I'm Alyssa Stringer from Austin, TX and currently in Denton, TX! I want to share my life as a college student, writer, YoungLife leader and new believer. Writing is my absolute passion and I hope to strengthen it through out this blog!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

A New Home

As the week has wound down, my mind has been oozing out thoughts of overwhelming happiness. I am at an unbelief at what God is throwing in my lap. Sometimes opportunities from God are misinterpreted. Sometimes I think I am a victim and nothing good will come out of this life and I have been proven wrong.

My freshman year has come to a close this week as I wrapped up my finals and packed my things to move out of my dorm. Earlier in the semester I decided to live in Denton for the summer and the plan was to live with my brother who is just down the road. As summer crept up on me my plan to live with my brother started to fall apart. He finally told me, only 2 weeks before I was suppose to move in, that he was moving 45 minutes away from Denton. My backup plan was to live with a friend where I have to pay rent over the summer, so saving money was going to be an even bigger obstacle, and now I would be separated from my brother and sister law which I was very excited to be spending time with. This awesome plan that I created for myself in my head started to seem like a curse. A week before school ended I got a call that a women named Janelle, who works with my friend, wants me to live with her for free this summer. I was very skeptical to live with someone I had never met before, although this was the best route for me to take to save money. I was filled with lots of anger that things were not going my way, that I would be separated from all my friends and family in a stranger's home, that I have to work two jobs because money is tight and my famous complaint that I often tell myself, "I never get what I want."

I met Janelle the day before I moved in and she was very kind to me. As I was moving in to my new room Janelle's husband, Doc, came out to help me. Janelle said, "Oh Doc would you take it easy! Alyssa, give him the small boxes, he's going blind."
I was taken back but I quickly realized that Doc was literally going blind in both of his eyes! I grabbed the giant boxes and he smiled with the most warming smile I have ever seen, and continued to help me.
Doc saw my running shoes and asked if I liked to run and I told him I loved to.
"We should go running together sometime, I run pretty slow but I run everyday to Eureka Park," Doc said to me. I asked how far that was from their house, knowing that it was not close at all.
"Ahhh, it's about 5 miles," Doc said very casually.
Okay, at this moment I realized something is very different about this elder couple, especially Doc.
I sat down with Doc and Janelle to go over some of my schedule and their house rules. I explained I would be up very early to work out before I have to work at 8 and Doc said he would be up as well and would make me coffee. My skeptical heart began warming up to my new Mom and Dad for the summer.

The first night I came home from babysitting, Doc and Janelle were in the living room watching Gilmore Girls (which was so hilarious to me). I sat down with them to visit and started to put the pieces together about my mystery foster parents.
Doc had been a pastor at a church in Austin (my home town) for 13 years and is now preaching to various students in China. He had traveled all over Asia to preach the gospel and he Skype's students in China to teach them English using the Bible. He told me a story that once he was preaching in an underground church in China and the police had came in the lobby so all the church hid Doc in the bathroom to protect him. Religion is very restricted there and they could get arrested for speaking about Jesus in their country.
Doc is leaving for China to preach and meet with his students for two months on Thursday. Eventually, in about a year from now, Doc and Janelle are going to move to China to minister full time.
The Lord right then and there opened my eyes to show me that he placed me in a very special home to grow me this summer.
It has been very hard for me to accept that this summer will be filled by lots of hard work and minimum amount of play time but I am clear on why I am here. I am not here to please my selfish needs, I am here to grow in my relationship with God and He sure did make sure I was somewhere where His word is relevant.

He's chasing after me even when my heart is hard and angry. It's the most graceful love I will ever receive.

Pray for Doc's journey to China! I am excited to see what I will learn here in my new home.